According to the theory Yu Xiaogang had taught in class, there was a strict upper-limit formula for the number of years a Soul Master could absorb from a Soul Ring.
A Soul Ancestor at level 50 could absorb a Soul Ring of at most around twelve thousand years.
Exceed that limit, and even if they somehow managed to swallow it, the Soul Ring's energy would backfire. At best, they would go mad; at worst, their bodies would explode.
But Qin Chuan was different from ordinary Soul Masters. The Reincarnation Origin's Heavenly Dao Power resided within him.
Although he hadn't fully mastered it yet, it was more than enough to suppress a Soul Beast's spiritual will and help him absorb the Soul Ring's violent energy.
Qin Chuan silently made some calculations.
The Heavenly Dao Power could raise his absorption limit to about one and a half times its original level.
In other words, he could absorb a Soul Ring of around thirty thousand years at most.
Of course, to be safe, he'd be better off keeping it below twenty-eight thousand years.
"I'm not considering anything under twenty thousand years." Qin Chuan set off again, heading deeper into the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest.
With every step, his figure vanished from where he stood, only to reappear a hundred meters away the next second.
The tips of his toes touched the ground as softly as leaves landing on water, making almost no sound.
The deeper he went, the dimmer the light between the trees grew.
The treetops intertwined overhead, forming a dense green net that blocked out most of the sunlight.
The air grew colder, damp and chilly. With every breath, a thin mist drifted from his lips.
The vegetation on the ground had changed.
The low shrubs were gone, replaced by clusters of waist-high ferns. Their broad, thick leaves were covered in droplets of water.
Every so often, an unknown insect crawled out from beneath a leaf, making a rustling sound.
The Soul Beasts around him were clearly of a higher level, too.
The lowest he saw with his Samsara Eye were already ten thousand years old.
He spotted one over twenty thousand years old every few kilometers.
These high-year Soul Beasts had fiercely territorial instincts. Each claimed a vast area, keeping a subtle distance from the others.
Qin Chuan traveled through this area for about half an hour.
His Samsara Eye scanned the surroundings again and again, but he never stopped walking.
He spotted a twenty-thousand-year-old Green Scale Flood Dragon and passed it by.
A twenty-one-thousand-year-old Shadow Leopard was too small; its Soul Ring wasn't of top quality.
A twenty-three-thousand-year-old Rock Snake had the wrong attributes and didn't suit the Zhu Xian Sword.
What Qin Chuan was looking for was a Soul Beast perfectly compatible with a sword-type Martial Soul: a sword-toothed tiger!
The core of this Soul Beast's abilities lay in the words "Sword Intent."
Its fangs held a natural sharpness. For a Soul Master with a sword-type Martial Soul, absorbing a sword-toothed tiger's Soul Ring could greatly enhance their perception of Sword Intent while increasing their weapon's attack power.
During those three years in the Underground Temple, Qin Chuan had turned the question over in his mind countless times: what should his first attack-type Soul Ring be?
In the end, he settled on the sword-toothed tiger.
But there were too few sword-toothed tigers with sufficiently high cultivation.
Whether he could even find one over twenty thousand years old in the Star Dou Great Forest was questionable.
Unless it was a mutant.
Qin Chuan continued deeper into the forest, the purple patterns in his Samsara Eye rotating without pause.
After another twenty minutes or so, he abruptly stopped.
Six kilometers ahead, he saw it.
In a forest clearing shaded by enormous treetops, a massive beast lay on its side in the grass.
Its body was a full six meters long. Its limbs were thick and powerful, and the contours of its muscles showed clearly beneath its fur.
Its entire body was covered in short golden fur, patterned completely differently from that of an ordinary sword-toothed tiger.
Ordinary sword-toothed tigers had gray-and-white fur. This one had intricate dark markings all over its golden undercoat, as if someone had branded the patterns into it with a hot iron.
The golden markings glimmered faintly in the light, following the lines of its muscles from the top of its head all the way to the tip of its tail.
A Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger, a rare mutant.
At that moment, it was dozing with its eyes shut, all four legs tucked beneath its body and its tail resting over its hind legs. Every so often, it flicked its tail to drive away insects that landed on its fur.
Beside it lay the half-eaten corpse of a small dragon-type Soul Beast.
The back half of the dragon-type Soul Beast had been devoured, leaving only the front half of its skeleton and a few scraps of sinew and flesh. The blood had dried to a dark brown.
A Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger, twenty-five thousand years old. And a rare mutant, too!
A flash of excitement crossed Qin Chuan's eyes.
Even an ordinary sword-toothed tiger Martial Soul was a top-tier Power Attack System Beast Martial Soul.
This mutant Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger was the king of tigers, naturally imbued with a trace of Gengjin energy. Its Soul Ring was the stuff of dreams for a Soul Master with a sword-type Martial Soul.
Not only could it greatly enhance a Soul Master's perception of Sword Intent, it could also imbue their weapon with an armor-piercing quality that nothing could withstand.
It's the one!
Qin Chuan didn't hesitate. He dropped straight down from the top of a hundred-meter-tall tree without stirring the slightest breeze, landing lightly about forty meters from the Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger.
Although he now had two Martial Souls, Illusion Bell's Soul Skills had no offensive power. His only means of attack was the Zhu Xian Sword, which had just awakened and still had no Soul Rings.
Trying to take on a mutant Soul Beast twenty-five thousand years old with a Martial Soul that had no Soul Skills sounded like a tall tale.
But Qin Chuan's greatest advantage was the flight granted to him by the Six Paths Reincarnation Eye, along with its nearly unstoppable repulsion and attraction.
I'll wear it down bit by bit. I can kill it eventually.
Qin Chuan focused his thoughts and extended his right hand.
A faint sword hum rang through the air, and an ancient, desolate Zhu Xian Sword appeared out of nowhere in his palm.
The moment he landed, the faint yet aggressive presence of a human finally disturbed the dozing Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger.
It lazily raised a head larger than a barrel. A flash of irritation at being disturbed passed through its golden eyes, then it spotted the tiny human standing not far away, as small as an ant.
The Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger even thought its eyes were playing tricks on it. It raised one millstone-sized paw and scratched its cheek.
There was no mistake. He was alone.
And judging by the aura, his Soul Power was, at most, that of a Soul King.
A Soul King has come alone into my territory? Is he starving to death and offering himself up as a meal?
The Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger's eyes instantly shifted from lazy to mocking.
It slowly rose to its feet and stretched its limbs. A series of sharp cracks burst from its bones.
That simple motion was enough to unleash the terrifying pressure of a forest king, which swept toward Qin Chuan like a tsunami.
"Roar!" Its deafening roar nearly tore the grass from the ground around it.
The Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger didn't bother to test its opponent. Its powerful limbs tensed, and its massive body became a golden blur. Trailing a rush of rank air, it pounced at Qin Chuan like lightning.
Those two enormous fangs were its deadliest weapons, more than enough to pierce the defenses of any Soul King!
Qin Chuan stood where he was, facing this Thunderous Might strike without even lifting an eyelid.
He simply raised his left hand, slowly.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Hum!